Student Time Management Strategies And The Job Search

When it comes to time management, most students have a very similar strategy, and let's be honest; Marie Kondo would not be impressed with the time organization displayed.

It's OK to admit it, I was a student at one time, and I, too, would have gotten a "marginal pass" on my time management skills. Between classes, tests, assignments, extra-curricular activities and my social life, many things were happening. Throw on top of that, I had to look for a job, and it felt overwhelming at times. When things start to feel overwhelming, students will tend to resort to the most primitive time management strategies - the deadline-driven strategy.

What is Deadline-Driven Time Management

It's pretty simple. Whatever task, project, test, or assignment was due next is what gets the attention. It's the most basic of strategies as it completely disregards the complexity of the task and focuses on what's up next. Some people thrive in this space, and I get it, some folks need to feel the pressure of a deadline to do their best work, but that's just a jazzed up way to say they're procrastinators.

Some people are well equipped to deal with the pressures associated with this strategy. I lived for the feeling of having to write a 20-page paper in a Red Bull infused 12-hour all-night session, and I felt very comfortable in those situations. Rushing across campus to submit a report at 9:59 AM to meet a 10:00 AM deadline was more common than I'd like to admit. Let's be real here, folks - some of you reading this article are nodding your heads and thinking, "this guy is my kind of people."

The truth is that schoolwork provides the perfect opportunity to use and master this strategy with a high probability of success. Don't get me wrong, some people will crash and burn, but others flourish in these environments. The problem is that with more success using this strategy, the more reliant you become on it. Instead of using this strategy out of necessity, it becomes a default strategy. This is where the more significant problems will sneak up on you. Before you know it, you're up against a deadline with no way to meet it.

Time Management Reality Check

It was September of my second year when this strategy would finally catch up to me. I was due to go out on my first co-op in January, and typical me was thinking, "I don't need a work term until January; I've got loads of time."

I didn't realize it at the time, but I had already missed out on applying for more than a quarter of the total posted opportunities when October hit. By the middle of that month, more than half of the total posted opportunities would be gone. I hadn't considered that my deadline to secure a job doesn't necessarily align with the employer's deadline to secure the talent.

The result was a long and difficult struggle to secure employment. In fact, and this is the truth, I was the absolute last student to secure their work term that semester. The stress of that situation was difficult, and it's a big reason why I am so passionate about what I do. I don't want any of my clients to have to go through that.

Diminishing Resources

In your schoolwork, deadline-driven time management is less problematic. All of the resources you need are at your fingertips for the duration of the term. If you have a statistics test coming up on eight chapters of materials, you will always have access to those materials. Waiting until the night before the test to study will be challenging, but you still have your class notes and a textbook covering the materials available to you.

With a job search, every day you are not active, you are missing out on opportunities that you can not get back. Your deadline to secure employment could be months away, but the employers you are interested in will be fighting to secure the right talent for their roles as soon as possible.

Posting a job early theoretically gives employers access to the broadest range of talent. Accounting firms and banks are known for posting their co-op roles very early each term. Companies that offer new graduate opportunities usually begin their recruitment for May starts in September of the previous year. Employers have one goal: finding the right fit for their role and getting an offer on the table before anyone else can steal their top choice away.

Semester over semester the statistics show us that the vast majority of job postings for our co-op program come in the first six weeks of the semester, and the majority of new graduate programs are posting their opportunities in the first two months of your senior year. If you are not active early then you are missing out.

Employers Don't Always Wait Until the Deadline

In your schoolwork, there is no advantage to submitting an assignment before the deadline. Waiting until the last moment to submit will still have an opportunity to be graded the same as a student who submits a week early.

In employment scenarios, many employers are posting jobs and advertising a final deadline, or in some cases, not providing a deadline at all. In a battle to secure the right talent, some employers will begin the interview process as applications are received. This can lead to a position filling before the deadline. To have the best shot, do not wait until the deadline, or you risk the role being filled before you even apply.

Here are some other reasons to apply in advance of the deadline:

• Show the employer you are excited to submit your application by being one of the first, not one of the last, to apply.
• Demonstrate that you're not a procrastinator. Trust me, when that timestamp on your application reads 11:57 PM on the day of the deadline, that tells the employer all they need to know about your time management skills.
• Eliminate the potential for missing the deadline due to issues submitting your application. Poor internet connections, power outages, browser updates, computer crashing, among other things, are more common than you would think.

Lack of Early Feedback

In your classes, there is a reason why you do a series of smaller assignments and then cap the semester off with a final exam. The goal is to get feedback on your understanding of the material all along the way to prepare for the final exam. Getting real-time feedback through each assignment helps you understand your grasp of the material before the final and can help focus your study time on problem areas. Imagine doing a university course where 100% of your grade comes from a single final exam. That would be crazy, right?

In a job search, the way you get feedback is by your progression through the process. If your applications are not securing interviews, then you need to re-evaluate your applications. If you are getting to the interview stage but not getting job offers, you may need to get help with your interview preparation.

Starting your search and getting that early feedback will put you in a position of advantage later in the term relative to your less active peers. Waiting only gives a more significant advantage to your competition who have been on the search, getting feedback, and improving their application and interview process all along.

The Solution

Students can change their habits in these areas, and I turned my job search challenges around. My first work term was a disaster, and as I said, I was the last student to get a job. Working with my advisor, I developed a different plan for my next two work terms. The result was that I secured a position in the middle of my second job search and was one of the first to secure employment for my third. So what did I do?

Your job search should be treated like any other class, and with any other class, you will have three hours of lectures a week and then homework and assignments to complete. Spend what would be lecture time doing job search activities. This can be a combination of company/industry research, doing informational interviews, and checking job boards (career centre, LinkedIn, Indeed etc.). This process will help identify opportunities, and it will be necessary to schedule this time directly into your calendar. It should be a minimum of three hours each week.

Checking for jobs regularly will help identify opportunities sooner and provide application scheduling leeway. There is nothing worse than checking a job board and finding several great jobs, but only having a few days to complete multiple applications. Find the job well in advance of the deadline to give maximum flexibility to find the time to apply.

Your applications for the roles you find are your homework and assignments. Depending on the class, you may have weekly assignments, and in some weeks, those academic demands may be higher than others. Set a minimum goal for applications each week, and meet that consistently, but be flexible to have heavier weeks of applications. Be reasonable and set something achievable, but do it every single week without fail. Remember that it is OK to make adjustments as you learn what is reasonable and feasible for you.

Not only does this give you a shot at securing a job, but it also starts that process of feedback that will help you improve your job search over the course of the semester. You will learn fairly quickly where you sit relative to your peers and can seek out additional advice when roadblocks occur. Starting this learning process later in the term will impact your opportunities when job postings become less plentiful.

Job search is hard enough, and the last thing you want to do is make an already challenging task harder. Procrastination in your job search compounds issues that you maybe don't even know exist. If you know that you tend to procrastinate in your job search, now is the time to make that change. Future you will thank you - trust me.

If you want to learn more about procrastination, I highly recommend watching Tim Urban's TED Talk: Inside the Mind of a Procrastinator. As an admitted procrastinator, this video spoke to me, and I would encourage you to watch for some learning accented with lighthearted humour.